So what I will be talking to you all about is the ups and downs, side to side and circular roller coaster of eating healthy, staying motivated, being consistent with a healthy diet, crazy work ethic and maintaining training.
I will be discussing my struggles, strengths and a few tips and tricks I use to motivate myself.
Why am I telling you all this? Basically to let you know that this stuff happens to everyone and it’s normal. Just because I’m a trainer and health professional doesn’t mean we don’t struggle too. Without being cliché, its how you react or deal with these things mentally that will get you in the right cycles, or the wrong ones.
How do you get in the right ones?
I will briefly touch on both, so first off the good cycle.
An example of a GOOD CYCLE would be; you decided to go to the gym on a Friday arvo, which makes you felt good. This makes you want to make another healthy choice, such as having a healthy meal. By this time you’ve got all those good endorphins kicking in, so your feeling good, which may make you think, “I’m going to get up and train in the morning!” This again is another healthy decision. Now that you’re up early after going to the gym, you see the sunrise and feel ALIVE and energetic. This makes you opt for a nice fresh breakfast as you would be hot and sweaty and would feel more like a healthy option.
NOW lets look at how EASY it is to slip into the BAD CYCLE with the exact same scenario, but person B chooses the other route.
You decide not to train Friday arvo and instead you have a wine or a beer with your friends. Now, usually this is associated with chips or pub foods. So what’s happening internally? Right now your body is trying to process all that CRAP, your body is working over time to try and fight off all the bad preservatives and fats, which inturn, is making you feel lethargic and tired, not to mention all the salt retention and the fact that your probably now dehydrated. So now it comes to the end of your catch-up, and even if it you only had 1 or 2 drinks, chances are your feeling pretty tired because remember its Friday, and you’ve had a long week. So you don’t set your alarm to train, OR let’s say you do, chances are you’re going to snooze it at least once or twice, and it was probably set for 1hr later then what you would have. You’ve now wasted another 1hr that you will never get back. On top of all that the more sugar we give our body the more we crave it, therefore, we can assume you also would have eaten an unhealthy breakfast.
Although there’s a few paragraphs there, that is a VERY BREIF rundown. I could list for days the negative affects eating bad would have on you, such being more injury prone, performing lower and a worse output during your sessions etc. etc.
What do I do wrong with my diet or my thinking? Here are my personal struggles to make you all feel better and to let you know I’m just like you guys.
SO WHY DID I TELL YOU ALL THAT?
&
WHAT DOES MY BRAIN THINK AFTER I DO THAT?
I told you all that to help you all know that it’s normal to fall off, to make mistakes and to deal with these thing’s as it’s all part of the process to SUCCESS.
What do I do after I’ve done it? Hmm, not much to be honest. I live a 80/20 lifestyle, so for me I just think that I’ll work that little bit harder in the gym tomorrow, or that I’ll make sure tomorrow’s meals are perfect. Don’t ever beat yourself up over it or get down. Because more often then not, that will leave you in the bad cycle instantly. THIS IS NORMAL, it’s all about how you bunce back. Just accept it and use it as motivation.
So here are some tips I use and NO, THEY DO NOT ALWAYS WORK, BUT I have been training for 8 years and these tips are ones that definitely help me MASSIVELY.
TIPS:
*When you THINK you want a beer or need a beer, eat a big meal first and drink water, I can nearly guarantee you won’t want it anymore. (Everyone’s different so you may still haha).
*Be prepared on a Sunday night. It will set you up for the week.
*Next time you eat healthy for a full day, notice how you feel throughout that day and then next time you eat unhealthy also be aware of how you feel. (That alone makes me want to eat healthy).
*Try your best to surround yourself with people that want to train over drink, or are really keen to train, and train with them.
*Set a goal, start a challenge, hire a trainer, start a new sport or different training style, get out of your comfort zone. Any of these things will spark excitement to train.
]]>How should you train?
With so many conflicting opinions and ideas on training, yes, I could recommend you do a certain thing and you would get results, 100%, but instead I’m going to recommend you do two things.
Number 1: Do what makes you happy. This comes back to the idea that if you do what you love you will never have to work a day in your life. The other belief is that if your training in something you love, you’re going to be a lot better at it as your passionate about it.
Examples – You may love running or surfing or boxing or CrossFit, IT DOESN’T MATTER! I cannot remember the amount of times I have heard, “that felt so good, I feel so much better when I train… when I surf… when I…” If you're doing what you love to do, and it involves being fit and active, your life is going to improve in so many ways.
NOW, number 2 conflicts with number 1 to a degree, but not entirely, and I’ll explain why.
Number 2 - DO WHAT YOU DON’T DO.
Now, why did I pick these two things to tell you? Number 1 is going to give you your base level of fitness and hopefully keep you going and not fall off the wagon because, as you stated above, ‘you love this’. And number 2 is to shock your body and get results.
So lets talk about number 2. Do what you don’t do means that if you go to the gym and do the same thing every time, e.g. Run on the treadmill, get off and go home, or do the same weights circuit and go home, or the same spin class and go home, then you NEED TO MIX IT UP.
If you hate strength training because it’s hard and you’re not good at it, then do it. If you don’t do it because you feel you have bad technique or don’t know what you’re doing, then of course ask your local trainer or someone in the gym to show you. If you hate cardio because you can’t breathe after it, then guess what… cardio is what’s going to get you the best results.
From a training science point of view it’s about adaptations and constant progressive overload. We do not want our bodies to get comfortable, which is what a lot of people do. We need to change, hence why rule number 2. By continually shocking the body and changing the exercises or workouts, along with progressively increasing weight, reps or duration, this can help to increase your aerobic capacity or increase your 1rms, and definitely improve you aesthetically.
]]>So with every one of my blogs I'm going to be talking to you all just like this - nothing formal, just like it would be with me face to face.
Today I want to talk to you guys about why I do what I do and what my goal is as a trainer, as a businessman and as a person really.
This is a very broad topic and I will only be touching on it tonight, as I have MANY goals, but here are a few key points.
So, why do I do what I do?
In it's most simplest form - I do what I do to improve people's life and to build a legacy long after I'm gone.
Now, let's talk about that first one, because to me this is HUGE, and in no way cliche.
What do I mean by improve people's life? And how will I get this message across? Through me, it's by motivating everyone and doing everything in my power to get people into fitness - whether that be through social media, face to face contact etc. It's not just by training my clients or telling them what to eat; not just by selling programs designed for weight-loss or muscle gains or giving you exercises to make you look good, YES! These are all key pieces and are very crucial and important, but really I'm trying to get my clients to lead a fit and healthy lifestyle ,and everything that comes with that.
I believe, and have seen first hand now for years, that when people do it PROPERLY, fitness changes their lives.
GOAL - to have a whole team, town, community, state, country and, of course, world into fitness and change people's lives as I go. Do I have steps in place to achieve this? Yes. Is it going to happen over night? No. Have I already got people into fitness and a fit and healthy lifestyle? Yes. Is it addictive? Yes. Do I have people helping me do this? Yes - all of you reading this blog post, all of you buying my programs and asking me questions. But these are just little steps I'm doing to help everyone, there are whole other aspects of people's lives that can be improved through fitness, such as confidence, work ethic, sustained happiness, mental clarity - the list goes on.
When I say properly, I don't just mean someone who trains to lose weight then puts it all back on - no, no, no. I'm talking about the people that change their eating habits, people that gain more energy on a daily basis, and people that you can noticeably see are happier every time they enter the gym. It really is electrifying. A mentor and good friend of mine (Nichole Andrews) once told me to always smile and say hello to every person you come past and even that alone is enough to possibly trigger these happy vibes, or make someone's day happier.
So going back to the top, why I do what I do - if I can make people get into fitness (properly) and yes, improve their life, then I consider myself successful. Everyone has their own measure of success and levels of success they would like to achieve, and I'm far from the end goal - but that's another story.
If you ever feel like you get lost and want some tips to stay focused or you would like me to help change your life, then please, email me at tjbaker1@hotmail.com, or contact me on this website. Likewise, if you see me around simply stop me and ask me whatever you like and for any motivation. To help you create that environment follow my Instagram @tombakerhealthandfitnesscoach.
This was only a VERY, VERY MINUTE portion of why I do what I do, so in the coming months I will continue to bring you more. Stay tuned and thanks massively for reading, I hope I have helped motivate you all.
Thanks, Tom.
]]>So... 3rd official blog post! Very exciting!
In this short blog I'm going to showcase some of the results my clients have achieved in the past 2 years. Although I have so many clients that have done amazingly, the ones I have chosen show you results from a variety of different ages, genders, careers and results; from weight loss to muscle gain, and everything in between. To see more you can visit my Instagram page @tombakerhealthandfitnesscoach.
Now, while not all of these results were done using my programs (as they are so new), my clients all train with the EXACT SAME PRINCIPLES, and diet plans, given in both the Woman's and Men's 6 Week Programs.
GAME PLAN - if you would like results like these, you can purchase the Men's and Woman's 6 Week Programs in my shop above, or you can choose to book in with me for a face to face PT session or online tutoring. So, sit back and be in awe of these crazy results my AMAZING clients have achieved through dedication and hard work.
VANESSA WALL 15KGS IN 10 WEEKS
ZOIE ANTON 45KGS IN 6MONTHS
]]>For my first post I thought I'd give you an intro into my Men's program, why I created it, how it works, and the proven results you'll see when you commit to it... stay posted it's coming soon!
]]>Well it's been a long time coming but we're finally live. I'm excited to bring to you TomBaker.com and bring my Men's and Women's programs to the world.
I look forward to sharing in your journey toward a fit and healthy life.
Thanks for your support & stay tuned for weekly blogs featuring training tips, mindset coaching, recipes and stuff to keep you motivated.
T.
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